First-time performers add depth to four decades of tradition and musical expression

“I feel our university continues to make an important contribution to the international new music scene through this festival.”

David Felder, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Birge-Cary Professor of Music

University at Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. – New performers fill the schedule of this
year’s June in Buffalo, the region’s internationally
celebrated new music festival to be held on the University at
Buffalo’s North Campus from June 6-12.

SUNY Distinguished Professor David Felder, Birge-Cary Professor
of Music, who is recognized as one of the most prominent composers
of his generation, enters his 31st year as the festival’s
artistic director, welcoming many first-time June in Buffalo
composers and performers, as well as nearly 30 emerging composers
chosen by a rigorous international selection process from the world
of contemporary classical music.

“Their unique perspectives and creations are a small,
personal window into the vast landscape of contemporary musical
expression,” he says. “In this way, over time, a
diverse group of invitees provides a wide landscape portrait of the
field of artistic activity.”

June in Buffalo 2015 was a dual milestone, marking 40 years
since its founder, composer and UB faculty member Morton Feldman,
began the festival that helped establish the university as a
creative center for classical music. The 2015 festival was also the
30th under Felder’s creative leadership.

“Last year was about inviting people who have contributed
significantly to the development of the festival,” says
Felder. “But this year we’re bringing in new people and
these different musical personalities will make for a very
different festival.”

This year’s June in Buffalo will focus on presenting
several generations of composers on the forefront of contemporary
music composition. Felder says each year, June in Buffalo reflects
the musical personalities of the invited composers and
musicians.

“We have groups coming from all over the world and from
here at home,” says Felder. “Artistic excellence is
June in Buffalo’s motivating factor and each festival has
always presented and contrasted widely diverging yet superbly
talented artists.”

This year’s June in Buffalo festival includes:

The Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente, the first ensemble to
win the prestigious Kranichstein Music Prize at the 2012
International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt,
Germany. Ensemble Dal Niente is a parameter-expanding
collective with flexible instrumentation, engaging listeners in
large ensemble, chamber music and solo performances from a range of
avant-garde composers.

Helsinki, Finland’s Ensemble Uusinta, a versatile
contemporary music ensemble that since 1998 has premiered more than
100 new works. Ensemble Uusinta is dedicated to bringing the work
of the most exciting composers to their international
audiences.

The Arditti Quartet, a venerable performance group that
celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014. The evolving membership of
the Arditti Quartet has done more than any other group to enrich
and expand the string quartet repertoire. Felder calls them
“the best contemporary music string quartet in the
world.”

The pioneering and now much imitated format combines conference
and performance, bringing together senior and emerging composers,
composition faculty, performance ensembles and individual artists
for a weeklong program that is part concert, part conference.

“The senior composers have achieved an international
reputation and have done innovative work, but they’re also
committed to engaging and mentoring younger composers,” says
Felder.

June in Buffalo is also an exchange of ideas and influences, he
says. The music on stage is complemented by master classes and
professional development opportunities for the emerging
generation.

“For audiences, the best new music groups present evening
concerts, but the emerging composers also learn from our senior
composers and our renowned faculty,” says Felder. “I
feel our university continues to make an important contribution to
the international new music scene through this festival.

“I’m always very excited about bringing together
these groups for June in Buffalo.”